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Lakeville high schools to offer mix of online, traditional classes to all students

By Christopher Magancmagan@pioneerpress.com

Posted:
12/15/2013 12:01:00 AM CST

Updated:
12/16/2013 01:55:44 PM CST

Next fall, students at Lakeville's two high schools won't necessarily have to be at school to attend class.

School board members approved a plan Dec. 10 to offer courses from LinK12, the district's new online school, to all high school students. It will make them some of the first students in the metro allowed to mix online courses into their class schedule, potentially spending less of their day inside school buildings.

"It's all about offering choices for our students to decide what works best for them," said Roz Peterson, chair of the Lakeville school board.

Mixing online and traditional courses is part of district leaders' efforts to rethink how students are taught. Teachers across the district are increasingly using technology to help them personalize learning.

Lisa Snyder, superintendent, said the skills students need for college and the workforce continue to evolve, and public education has to keep up. The ability to learn and collaborate online has become essential.

"If we continue to graduate students without those types of skills, we are doing them a disservice," Snyder said.

In August, Lakeville won approval from the Minnesota Department of Education to begin offering online courses to any student in the state. Soon after, the district launched LinK12, which has about 100 students enrolled.

Emily McDonald, district teaching and learning coordinator, said students will start out with about 100 online courses to pick from when they begin setting next year's class schedules in January and February.

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Demand will drive which classes are being offered, with options ranging from core subjects to electives.

Most of those courses will be taught by Lakeville teachers. Don Sinner, president of the Lakeville teachers union, said union leaders and district administrators have been working to make sure new online classes are offered to district staff members who are interested in teaching them.

"We are committed to have our teachers teach these courses," McDonald said. "We want to make sure students have access to the high-quality education our district provides."

District high school students who decide to sign up for an online class can do the work for those courses outside of school or study in a cyber cafe the district is building at Lakeville North High School.

"The assumption is if a student is learning online, they're not in school. That's not always the case," McDonald said. "We are trying to ensure we are offering students multiple ways to learn so students can find the best fit."

More than two dozen school districts and charter schools have state approval to offer online courses. While many of those providers offer students a variety of choices, Lakeville school leaders believe they are among the first public schools to offer every high school student a chance at blending online and in-person classes.

Anoka-Hennepin schools won state approval to broaden its online course offerings at the same time as Lakeville. The district launched StepAhead Online High School with a focus on students who want to earn college credits.

Mary Olson, Anoka-Hennepin spokeswoman, said StepAhead started in the fall with about 15 ninth- and 10th-graders attending full time, and it is expected to expand. An additional 200 students are enrolled in courses offered at district high schools through video conference.

In Lakeville, younger district students soon could have a shot at online classes, too. District leaders see the Internet as a way to offer classes to students who otherwise would be unable to attend them.

"I would say that is definitely a future conversation for us to have," McDonald said.